March 09, 2021

Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die (1994)

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*U.S. first pressing. 
This pressing contains the original samples for the following tracks:
"Ready To Die" "Machine Gun Funk" & "Gimmie The Loot"
Contains 17 tracks total. 
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Gangsta Rap, Pop Rap
Label Number: 78612-73000-2

© 1994 Bad Boy Records
The album that reinvented East Coast rap for the gangsta age, Ready to Die made the Notorious B.I.G. a star, and vaulted Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy label into the spotlight as well. Today it's recognized as one of the greatest hardcore rap albums ever recorded, and that's mostly due to Biggie's skill as a storyteller. His raps are easy to understand, but his skills are hardly lacking -- he has a loose, easy flow and a talent for piling multiple rhymes on top of one another in quick succession. He's blessed with a flair for the dramatic, and slips in and out of different contradictory characters with ease. Yet, no matter how much he heightens things for effect, it's always easy to see elements of Biggie in his narrators and of his own experience in the details; everything is firmly rooted in reality, but plays like scenes from a movie. A sense of doom pervades his most involved stories: fierce bandits ("Gimme the Loot"), a hustler's beloved girlfriend ("Me & My Bitch"), and robbers out for Biggie's newfound riches ("Warning") all die in hails of gunfire. The album is also sprinkled with reflections on the soul-draining bleakness of the streets -- "Things Done Changed," "Ready to Die," and "Everyday Struggle" are powerfully affecting in their confusion and despair. Not everything is so dark, though; Combs' production collaborations result in some upbeat, commercial moments, and typically cop from recognizable hits: the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" on the graphic sex rap "One More Chance," Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" on the rags-to-riches chronicle "Juicy," and the Isley Brothers' "Between the Sheets" on the overweight-lover anthem "Big Poppa." Producer Easy Mo Bee's deliberate beats do get a little samey, but it hardly matters: this is Biggie's show, and by the time "Suicidal Thoughts" closes the album on a heartbreaking note, it's clear why he was so revered even prior to his death.

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tags: notorious big, the, ready to die, 1994, flac,
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The Darksend - Unsunned (1996) ☠

By , No comments
Country: Sweden
Language: English
Genre: Black Metal
Label Number: HNF022
☠: Selected by Buccaneer
© 1996 Head Not Found
Before receiving _Unsunned_, I'd never heard, nor heard of, The Darksend at all, so I didn't really know what to expect. Luckily though, I was pleasantly surprised. Their style is mostly Swedish melodic black metal, in the vein of Dawn and Marduk (okay, so Marduk aren't that melodic), with a lot of melodic death metal influence from the likes of Dark Tranquillity and others of their ilk. Not being able to rely on originality, The Darksend instead create extremely fast, melodic compositions, broken up by slower mid-paced reprieves, and punctuated with a few thrashy solos. The vocals aren't too bad, similar in style to Dawn, but a little more whiny sounding, unfortunately. The production is good enough, though maybe a little thicker than others (relatively speaking, this is no Mortician production job), but it gets the job done with no major problems. The most important part of _Unsunned_, like most albums of its type, are the guitar melodies, and there are few disappointments here. You won't find anything comparable in quality to the best from D.T. or Dawn, but they certainly suffice, and comprise most of the highlights of the album. There's not too much else to say about The Darksend that you couldn't have read in any other review of its genre, except that it's just as good as any of the others.

tags: the darksend, dark send, unsunned, 1996, flac,
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March 08, 2021

Aurora Borealis - Mansions of Eternity: E.P. (1996)

By No comments
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Black Metal, Death Metal
Label Number: Not On Label
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© 1996 [Self-Released]
*No professional reviews are avilable for this release.

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Onyx - Shut 'Em Down (1998)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Gangsta Rap, Pop Rap
Label Number: 314 536 988-2
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© 1998 JMJ Records
Shut 'Em Down is officially the follow-up to All We Got Iz Us, but since that second album was largely forgotten, the record might as well have been a follow-up to Bacdafucup, the debut that briefly made Onyx a hip-hop sensation. Onyx haven't changed that much since then; their hardcore rhythms still hit hard, their lyrics are still profane and they still shout their lyrics as often as they rap. In short, they still make the oversized, near-parodic hardcore rap that made "Slam" a smash hit. Unfortunately, there isn't anything on Shut 'Em Down nearly as good as "Slam." There's nothing that's flat-out bad, on the other hand, but there's no denying that the horrorcore schtick wears a bit thin. At first, it sounds good to have Onyx back, but it soon becomes clear that they need to develop a new sonic direction, otherwise they will have shut themselves down.
 
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Rottin Razkals - Rottin Ta Da Core (1995)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Pop Rap
Label Number: 314530461-2

© 1995 Illtown/Mad Sounds Recordings
Unfortunately this album seriously lacks the charisma a good hip-hop album needs to succeed. The lyrics are oversimplified as well as the beats, and throughout the album just fails to hold interest. A visit by Naughty by Nature's Treach on "Life of a Bastard" picks up the slack a little bit, but still not a strong LP on the whole.

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Simplē E - Colouz Uv Sound (1994) ☠

By ,
*A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: CD-07822-11021-2
☠: Selected by Sentinel
© 1994 Fox Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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Onyx - Bacdafucup (1993)

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*A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Hardcore Hip-Hop
Label Number: OK 53302
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© 1993 JMJ/Rush/Chaos
At the time that Bacdafucup hit the record racks and airwaves, Onyx seemed to be inventing a genre all their own: heavy metal rap. Of course, on closer inspection, it is not at all surprising stylistically, given their link to Def Jam and Run DMC, the record company and crew that introduced heavy guitar riffs into hip-hop. Onyx, though, seemed far more threateningly hardcore than Run DMC ever were, and each song on their debut album seems like a quick-triggered, menacing chip set squarely on the shoulders of MCs Big DS, Suavé, Fredro, and Sticky Fingaz. That the entire album from beginning to end circumvents almost any backlash by being so brilliantly catchy as well, is a sterling tribute to how strong a quartet Onyx truly is on this first effort. The group gives the impression that they wanted to spotlight the sort of cartoonish, directionless anger that existed in a lot of hardcore rap, and then funnel that sort of energy into songs full of singalong choruses and joyous, chanted hooks that lend a certain feeling of camaraderie to the whole album. The release is mostly co-produced by Run DMC's Jam Master Jay and newcomer Chyskillz, and its music has a tense, wired edge that amplifies the vividness of the threatening lyrics. Sonically, it has a hardcore East Coast/New York City cast, full of throbbing bass and screeching siren-like effects. The grimy urban vibe is matched by Onyx's narrative thuggery, discharged straight from the streets like pumped-up news dispatches and predating the roughneck rap trend by several years. It's hard to imagine, given the gritty content of the album, that Onyx was aiming for airplay with Bacdafucup; nevertheless, almost in spite of itself, it was so good that it earned just that.

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tags: onyx, bacdafucup, back the fuck up, 1993, flac,
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Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - The Main Ingredient (1994) ⚓

By ,
*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 16 tracks total. 
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: 61661-2

© 1994 Elektra
On their third release overall and second full-length, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth scaled back on the expansive scope of their sprawling first opus, Mecca & the Soul Brother, indeed opting to magnify the main ingredients of their sound: Pete Rock's brilliant production chops and C.L Smooth's complex lyrical delivery. The result is an album that is far more focused, with all the ragged edges and loose threads tied up. It is also just as good as the first record, perhaps an even more satisfying single listen. The Main Ingredient is full of rich, resonant, hypnotic songs -- the production being among some of the most seductive in hip-hop -- that subtly, but absolutely, swing with their lock-step precision. In characteristic Pete Rock fashion, all of the sharp edges have been sanded down, leaving a vibrant and completely lush musical backdrop which seems to have a dreamy nostalgia about it. Old '60s and '70s soul, soul-jazz, and funk samples abound, and the music is dotted with gauzy keyboard washes, hugely echoed bass-drum kicks, milky basslines, and muted horn loops, almost sounding like they are emanating out of water. All of the songs feel immediate, yet they are infused with the sort of roomy ambience that lends to each the impression of a classic tune, evocative of an earlier era, but not one that can be described exactly, and not one to which you can definitively point. As usual, C.L. Smooth is lyrically on point, spitting out intellectual rhymes and narratives that are just as propulsive and engaging as the music. The only negative aspect about the album, then, is that it ended one of the finest hip-hop duos of the first half of the 1990s.

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Onyx - All We Got Iz Us (1995) ⚓

By ,
*A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Hardcore Hip-Hop
Label Number: 314 529 265-2
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© 1995 JMJ/Rush Associated Labels Recordings
The second offering from Queens' Onyx is another fix of dark and psychotic microphone marauding. Unlike their debut album Bacdafucup, the trio's 1995 sophomore project contains no MTV-friendly cuts like "Slam." Rather, All We Got Iz Us is strictly the dark side, espousing basically one emotion: rage. This is a primal album of raucous wailing over sparse, rumbling beats. It is the sound of what slithers under the streets of New York. Sticky Fingaz asserts himself as the lyricist of the crew, sounding off like a powder keg ready to blow while Fredro Starr provides the solid but simplistic beats. Onyx cares little about solutions to the problems that have riled them up, they're simply reacting to them by letting out a guttural roar of anger and violence. Perhaps the forerunners of hardcore artists such as DMX, they in many ways authored the grimy, lowdown flow. In spite of their talents, without the benefit of airplay All We Got Iz Us fizzled. Regardless, Onyx maintained their "right to remain violent" and for what they do, they do it very well on this album. The standout cuts include: "Last Dayz," "Live Niguz," "Walk In New York," "Shout," and "Geto Mentalitee," featuring All City.

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Band of Susans - The Word & The Flesh (1991)

By No comments
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Shoegaze
Label Number: 7 72534-2

© 1991 Restless Records
Despite featuring their third pair of guitarists in as many albums (Love Agenda's Page Hamilton departed to form Helmet), Band of Susans deliver their most assured, accessible album. The guitars operate as interlocking pieces of a larger puzzle, while bassist Susan Stenger floats below, providing structure without being chained to the beat. The sound alternates between haunting and crushing, and the guitars are finally consistently corralled into the dramatic service of the song. The clean, nearly reverb-less guitar sound leaves plenty of room to hear the guitars' idiosyncratic directions while maintaining a nearly opaque wall of sound. Most rewarding are the moments when the band breaks loose from their throbbing chords to deliver a crunchy punch to the solar plexus, such as on "Plot Twist" and "Silver Lining." Mostly, though, the effect is of rich lattices of guitar and intermingling swells, lifting and propelling the songs through an omnipresent guitar drone. Bassist Stenger's throaty vocals add a moody counterpoint to the guitars' pitched screech and anchor the album's opening two tracks, not incidentally two of the better compositions on the disc. The album closes with a nod to Robert Poss' mentor, Rhys Chatham, with a cover of Chatham's hypnotic, slow-building fugue "Guitar Trio."

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Band of Susans - Here Comes Success (1994)

By No comments
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Shoegaze
Label Number: 7 72789-2

© 1994 Restless Records
Though their prior records were all respectable, Band of Susans saved a knockout punch for their swan song, Here Comes Success. A solid collection of lengthy guitar workouts, it's not the best record to get a quick fix from (the nine tracks average seven minutes in length). Success certainly demands close attention, but that's easy to give, thanks to its thick hypnotics. "Hell Bent" is the Susans' absolute zenith, an entrancing ice-jolt that unfolds and coils in superb dynamic fashion. When bassist Susan Stenger drops to a one-note bassline, it speaks just as loud as a lengthy lead solo. "Pardon My French" features some Stonesy riffing and some dead-on societal commentary from Robert Poss: "The voice of god is Charlton Heston/He's told the FBI they should have me arrested/Bullets will fly but he'll never get the message/That people with guns can never be trusted." At 64 minutes, Success might test one's attention, but it's the Susans at their catchiest and most exciting.

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March 07, 2021

The Boomtown Rats - A Tonic For The Troops (1978)

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*Reissued by Columbia Records on an unknown date. 
This is a CD repress of the original 1978 LP release. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: Ireland
Language: English
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: CK 35750

© 1978 Columbia
Bob Geldof had revealed a taste for the seamy side of things in his lyrics for The Boomtown Rats' first album. On their second record, he fantasized about being Hitler in the person of the Leader of the Pack ("I Never Loved Eva Braun"), romanticized tropical suicide ("Living In An Island"), and identified with a certain wealthy recluse ("Me And Howard Hughes"). The band retained a punk energy on the album's UK hit singles, "Like Clockwork," "She's So Modern," and "Rat Trap" (the last another of Bob Geldof's Springsteen homages), but musical identity was still a song-by-song affair. (Ensign Records released A Tonic For The Troops in the UK in June 1978. In the U.S., Columbia Records took over The Boomtown Rats from Mercury, replaced "Can't Stop" and "[Watch Out For] The Normal People" with "Mary Of The 4th Form" and "Joey's On The Street Again" from the first album, resequenced the tracks, and delayed the American release until February 1979.)

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The Boomtown Rats - Mondo Bongo (1980)

By No comments
*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 13 tracks total.
Country: Ireland
Language: English
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: CK 37062

© 1980-1990 Columbia
On their fourth album, the Boomtown Rats submitted to ambitiousness, with singer Bob Geldof attempting to assume the mantle of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, while the band tried to keep up with musical fashions in Britain. The combination led to such oddities as a ska-beat rewrite of the Stones' "Under My Thumb" and a couple of side-opening mambos. The band was at its best when it returned to the pop music that was its core on such songs as the Buddy Holly-ish "Don't Talk to Me" and especially the danceable "Up All Night," but they were buried on the second side of an uneven collection that made the Rats' sense of direction seem uncertain.

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The Boomtown Rats - V Deep (1982)

By No comments
*U.K. first pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: Ireland
Language: English
Genre: New Wave
Label Number: 800 042-2

© 1982-1984 Mercury Records
On their fifth album and reduced to a quintet, the Boomtown Rats moved closer to Caribbean rhythms, employing a percussionist and upping the bass guitar in the mix. They even had Dennis Bovell do a dub mix of "House on Fire" and included it at the end of the album. Meanwhile, Bob Geldof's lyrics indicated an increasingly embattled sensibility; he noted in a song called "The Bitter End" that "It isn't too far." Unfortunately, nothing here matched the catchy, daring work on the Rats' first three albums, and even in England their star was beginning to fade. In America, Columbia Records at first declined to release the album, opting for a four-track EP, then allowed it to escape in September 1982, when it failed to chart.

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March 06, 2021

Deuce Mob - Going Solo (2001 Reissue) ☠

By ,
*Reissued in 2001 by East Side Records. 
Contains 11 tracks total. 
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Language: English, Spanish (Español)
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Chicano Rap, G-Funk
Label Number: ESR-2015-2
☠: Selected by Lass
© 1996-2001 East Side Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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tags: deuce mob, going solo, 1996, 2001, reissue, flac,
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Band of Susans - Veil (1993) ☠

By , No comments
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Shoegaze
Label Number: 7 72733-2
☠: Selected by Lass
© 1993 Restless Records
The fourth full-length from Band of Susans is their most assured to date. Perhaps not as immediately compelling as The Word and the Flesh, the band members are nonetheless at the top of their game, expanding the margins of their sound. Whereas the last album was focused on songcraft, here the compositions reign. The band is no longer content to let the guitars drone with feral ferocity, instead exploring greater use of dynamics, dissonance, and interplay. Far more experimental in approach than their previous albums, the rewards are revealed with repeated listening as the complexity of the songs' interior structures becomes more transparent. For example, "Mood Swings" begins with a lean-to of stereo call and return guitar lines before the throbbing bass and drums come in with the foundation and the song swells, becoming a storm with flashes of guitar audible within the squall. At the break, the guitars drop out, and after several measures of choppy rhythm, the storm returns. This intermingling of intermittent sounds and effects is made even more effective by expanding the palette beyond a melodic crush of guitar to include individual dissonant and minor chords that bring all three guitars into bas-relief. The lyrics are often lost, like a lone figure in a field beneath a thundering, searing cloud of sound, with only the refrain echoing softly. This is no great loss, as the sheer muscular musical virtuosity of this album requires few words.

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March 05, 2021

Blahzay Blahzay - Blah, Blah, Blah (1996) ⚓

By ,

*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 13 tracks total. 
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: 697 124 093-2
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© 1996 Fader/Mercury Records
AllMusic Review by Leo Stanley
Blahzay Blahzay's debut album, Blah Blah Blah, is a stellar piece of East Coast hip-hop, which isn't surprising since the duo were heavily involved in New York rap for a number of years before they released their own record. Though Blah Blah Blah isn't as sonically innovative as any of RZA's productions for the various Wu-Tang members, it is miles beyond the standard G-funk and gangsta pap that flooded the market in the mid-'90s. Both DJ P.F. Cuttin and MC Outloud are skilled rappers, but more importantly, they know how to construct musical backdrops that are funky, menacing, and exciting. It's a debut album that's full of promise, but more importantly, also full of achievement.

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A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991)

By 
*U.S. first pressing. 
Contains 14 tracks total. 
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Conscious Rap, Jazz Rap
Label Number: 1418-2-J
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© 1991 Jive Records
AllMusic Review by John Bush
While most of the players in the jazz-rap movement never quite escaped the pasted-on qualities of their vintage samples, with The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest created one of the closest and most brilliant fusions of jazz atmosphere and hip-hop attitude ever recorded. The rapping by Q-Tip and Phife Dawg could be the smoothest of any rap record ever heard; the pair are so in tune with each other, they sound like flip sides of the same personality, fluidly trading off on rhymes, with the former earning his nickname (the Abstract) and Phife concerning himself with the more concrete issues of being young, gifted, and black. The trio also takes on the rap game with a pair of hard-hitting tracks: "Rap Promoter" and "Show Business," the latter a lyrical soundclash with Q-Tip and Phife plus Brand Nubian's Diamond D, Lord Jamar, and Sadat X. The woman problem gets investigated as well, on two realistic yet sensitive tracks, "Butter" and "The Infamous Date Rape." The productions behind these tracks aren't quite skeletal, but they're certainly not complex. Instead, Tribe weaves little more than a stand-up bass (sampled or, on one track, jazz luminary Ron Carter) and crisp, live-sounding drum programs with a few deftly placed samples or electric keyboards. It's a tribute to their unerring production sense that, with just those few tools, Tribe produced one of the best hip-hop albums in history, a record that sounds better with each listen. The Low End Theory is an unqualified success, the perfect marriage of intelligent, flowing raps to nuanced, groove-centered productions.
 
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A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes & Life (1996) ⚓

By ,
*A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: 01241-41587-2
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© 1996 Jive Records
AllMusic Review by John Bush
With each of its first three albums, A Tribe Called Quest seemed to be on its way to bigger and better things, artistically and commercially. Beats, Rhymes and Life promptly ended that streak and still ranks as the group's most disappointing listen. Amplifying the bare beats-and-bliss of The Low End Theory but erasing the hooks of Midnight Marauders, Beats, Rhymes and Life simply wasn't a compelling record. In fact, A Tribe Called Quest sounded bored through most of it -- and, to put it bluntly, there wasn't much to get excited about either. Previously so invigorating and idea-driven, Q-Tip and Phife strutted through their verses, often sounding confused, hostile, and occasionally paranoid (check out the battle tracks, "Phony Rappers" and "Mind Power"). Meanwhile, the skeletal productions offered little incentive to decode the lyrics and messages, most of which were complex as expected. Though several other tracks had solid productions (like the spry, bass-driven backing to "Phony Rappers"), Beats, Rhymes and Life saw A Tribe Called Quest making its first (and only) significant misstep. (Constant touring off the success of Midnight Marauders may have been a factor.) Yes, they were still much better than the vast majority of alternative rappers, but it seemed they'd lost their power to excite. One of the few successes was a surprising R&B crossover called "1nce Again" (featuring Tammy Lucas).
 
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A Tribe Called Quest - The Love Movement (Club Edition) (1998)

By 
*U.S. "Club Edition". 
This pressing contains 6 bonus tracks and 21 tracks in total. 
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: 01241-41638-2
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© 1998 Jive Records
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Continuing with the subdued, mature stylistic flow of Beats, Rhymes and Life, The Love Movement, the fifth album from A Tribe Called Quest, is the group's subtlest album yet -- which may just be a polite way for saying it's a little monotonous. Throughout the record, Tribe mines the same jazz-flavored, R&B-fueled beats that were the hallmark of Beats. Although the "love" concept provides a thematic cohesion to the album -- almost all of the songs are about love, in one way or another -- the overall effect is quite similar to its immediate predecessor: the music is enthralling for a while, but soon it all sounds a little too familiar. Part of the problem is that Tribe functions on a cerebral level, a point made painfully clear by Busta Rhymes' and Redman's roaring, visceral cameos on "Steppin' It Up." On their own, Tribe favors craft over raw skills. That means there are plenty of pleasures to be had from careful listening, but Tribe has reached a point where it's easier to admire the Ummah's stylish production and the subtle rhymes of Q-Tip and Phife than it is to outright love them, which is ironic for an album bearing the title The Love Movement.
 
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Various Artists - Deep Cover (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1992)

By No comments
*European first pressing. 
Contains 14 tracks total. 
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop, R&B
Style: Gangsta Rap
Label Number: 471669 2

© 1992 Solar/Epic Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release.

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